ABB predictive software for sustainable hydro operations11 July 2019

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Technology specialist ABB is partnering with Enel Green Power to deliver predictive maintenance solutions that will aim to lower maintenance costs and transform the performance, reliability and energy efficiency of its hydropower plants throughout Italy.

With operations in five continents, the Enel Group’s renewable business line, Enel Green Power has a managed capacity of more than 43 GW.

“We are privileged to be partnering with Enel Green Power, a digital pioneer, in their move from hours-based to predictive maintenance utilising ABB Ability technologies for big data, machine learning and advanced analytics,” says Kevin Kosisko, MD of Energy Industries at ABB.

“Predictive maintenance and asset performance management must become a key component of plant operators’ strategies to optimise maintenance operations, minimize risk, improve resilience and reduce costs. The results are more competitive electricity rates, in a more sustainable way.”

Collaborating closely since early 2018, the two companies have jointly developed and tested predictive maintenance and advanced solutions via a pilot on five Enel plants in Italy and Spain, including Presenzano, a 1,000-megawatt plant near Naples.

The new contract includes digital software solutions and services that will provide analysis of over 190,000 signals and the deployment of about 800 digital asset models, aimed at improving plant operational performance, reducing unplanned failures and enabling more efficient planned maintenance practices through predictive maintenance. The integration is expected to yield savings in fleet maintenance costs and increase plant productivity.

“With personnel retirements resulting in knowledge gaps and more competitive electricity marketplaces, we believe that many power generation customers globally can benefit from this kind of digital transformation around maintenance and operations,” adds Kosisko.